The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



ful are those tortures of indecision, when one 

 has to postpone till the following year an 

 investigation which has led to no result! 



My observations made during the spring 

 of 1856, although purely negative, neverthe- 

 less have an interest of their own, because 

 they prove the inaccuracy of certain supposi- 

 tions to which the undeniable parasitism of 

 the Sitares naturally inclines us. I will there- 

 fore relate them in a few words. At the end 

 of April, the young larvae, hitherto motion- 

 less and concealed in the spongy heap of the 

 egg-skins, emerge from their immobility, 

 scatter and run about in all directions through 

 the boxes and jars in which they have passed 

 the winter. By their hurried gait and their 

 indefatigable evolutions we readily guess that 

 they are seeking something which they lack. 

 What can this something be, unless it be 

 food? For remember that these larvae were 

 hatched at the end of September and that 

 since then, that is to say, for seven long 

 months, they have taken no nourishment, 

 though they have spent this period in the full 

 enjoyment of their vitality, as I was able to 

 assure myself all through the winter by irri- 

 tating them, and not in a state of torpor 

 similar to that of the hibernating animals. 

 52 



